P^7 

No. I' 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 315 315 A 



Hollinger 
pH 83 



SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS 



XI 



Sieur De Monts Commission 



De Monts and Acadia 



An Appreciation 




ISSUED BY 

THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA 
BAR HARBOR, ^L\INE 



.^oliected se:,^ 




Sieur de Monts National Monument — The East Cliff 



0. of D. 

NOV ?0 1917 



SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS 



XI 

Sieur De Monts Commission 



De Monts and Acadia 
An Appreciation 

PURCHAS HIS PILGRIMES 

Co^'TAYXixG A History of the World in Sea N^oyages and 

Lande Travells by Englishmen and Others. 
The Patent <>f the French King to Monsieur de Monts for 
the inhabiting of the Countries of La Cadia, Canada, 
and other places in New France. 

Hciu-v, l)v the uiaco of God Kin-' of France and Na- 
varre. To onr deare and well beloved the Lord of Monts, 
„ne of tlie ordinarie Gentlemen of onr Chamber, greeting. 
\s onr greatest care and labonr is, and hath alwayes 
beene, since onr comming to this Crowne, to mamtame 
;m(l conserve it in tlie ancient dignitie, greatnesse and 
splendonr thereof, to extend and amplifie, as mnch as 
lawfnllv mav bee done, the bonnds and limits of the 
same. AVe being, of a hmg time, informed of the sitnation 
and condition of the Lands and Territories of La Cadia, 
.di„v(m1 above all things, with a singnlar zeale, and devont 
and constant resolution, which we have taken, with the 
helpe and assistance of God, Author, Distribntonr, and 
Protectonr ..f all Kingdomes and Estates, to canse the 
people which doe inhabit tlie Conntrey, men (at this 
present time) Barbarons, Atheists, ^vithont Eaith, or 
Pelighm, to be converted to Christ ianitic, and to tbc 

3 



Bc^liefs and Profession of onr Faith and Religion: and 
to draw tlieni from the ignorance and nnbeliefs wherein 
they are. Having also of a long time knowne by the 
llelation of the Sea Captaines, Pilots, Merchants and 
others, who of long time have haunted, frequented and 
traflEicked with the peoj^le that are found in the said places, 
how fruitful!, commodious and profitalile may be unto us, 
to our Estates and Subjects, the Dwelling, Possession, 
and Habitation of those Countries, for the great and 
apparent profit which may be drawne by the greater fre- 
quentation and habitude which may bee had with the 
people that are found there, and the Trafficke and Com- 
merce wliicli may be by that means safely treated and 
negotiated. 

We then for these causes fully trusting on your great 
wisdome, and in the knowledge and experience that you 
have of the qualitie, condition and situation of the said 
Countrie of La Cadia ; for divers and sundry Navigations, 
^"oyag•es and Frequentations that you have made into 
those parts, and others neere and bordering upon it: 
Assuring our selves that this our resolution and inten- 
tion, being committed unto you, you will attentively, dili- 
gently, and no lesse couragiously and valorously execute 
and bring to such perfection as we desire : Have expressly 
appointed and established you, and by these Presents, 
signed with our owne hands, doe commit, ordaine, make, 
constitute and establish you, our Lieutenant Generall, 
for to represent our person, in the Countries, Territories, 
Coasts and Confines of La Cadia. To begin from the 40. 
degree unto the 46. And in the same distance, or part of 
it, as farre as may bee done, to establish, extend and 
make to l)e knowne onr Name, Might, and Autlioritie. 
And under the same to subject, submit and bring into 
obedience all the iieo])le of the said Land, ml tit" Bor- 
derers thereof: And by the meanes thereof, and all law- 
full wayes, to call, make, instruct, provoke and incite 
them to the knowledge of God, and to the light of the 
Faith and Cliristian Religion, to establish it there: And 

4 



ill the exercise and profession of the same, keepe and con- 
serve the said people, and all other Inhabitants in the 
said places, and there to command in peace, rest and 
trancpiillitie, as well by Sea as by Land: to ordaine, de- 
cide, and cause to bee executed all that which you shall 
judge fit and necessarie to be done, for to maintaine, 
keepe and conserve the said places under our Power and 
Authoritie, by the formes, wayes and means prescribed 
by our Lawes. And for to have there a care of the same 
with vou, to appoint, establish, and constitute all Officers, 
as well in the affaires of Warre, as for Justice and 
Policie, for the first time, and from thence forward to 
name and present them unto us : for to be disposed by us, 
and to give Letters, Titles, and such Provisoes as shall 
be necessarie, etc. 

Given at Fountain-Bleau the eight day of November : 
in the yeere of our Lord 1603. And of our Reigne the 
fifteenth. Signed Henry : and underneath by the King, 
Potier ; And sealed upon single labell with yellow Waxe. 



De Monts and Acadia: An Appreciation 

Beiyig portion of an address delivered by Major General 
Joshua L. Chamherlain at the Ter-Centennial celebra- 
tion of the founding of Acadia and first permanent 
settlement of America to the north of Florida. 
There are things done in the world which by a certain 
estimation are accounted failure, but which belong to an 
eternal process turning to its api)ointed ends the dis- 
continuities of baffled endeavor. We have come to this 
little spot where broken beginnings were the signal of 
mightv adventure, and restless spirits, lured by visions of 
empire forecast upon the morning clouds, pressed and 
passed like them. The great action of the times we com- 
memorate was not the result of shrewd calculations ot 
economic advantage; it was largely the impulse of bold 
imagination and adventurous spirit stirred by the fore- 

5 



sliadowing of iintosted possibilities, and knowing no limit 
bnt each one's daring or dream. While the motive of 
pecuniary gain was not absent from even noble minds, 
yet this was secondary and subordinate. A deeper 
thought was moving them, — to turn to human good such 
opening store of rich material and marvellous oppor- 
tunity; to signalize the ^'alor of their race, the glory of 
their country and their religion; to take a foremost step 
in the march of civilization, — the mastery of man over 
nature. It 'was akin to the chivalry wdiich enjoys per- 
sonal hazard for a sake beyond self. What generous 
ambitions, what lofty hopes hovered in those early skies, 
and since have "faded into the light of common day!" 

We come here to recognize the worth of a remarkable 
man, Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, — to commemorate 
in a material structure more lasting than any of his ow^n 
the value of his work and the greatness of his ideas. It 
is, moreover, a part of the glory of Old France of which 
w^e come with one heart to celebrate a passage, — taking 
this term in both senses of its meaning. Not other than 
glorious the passage from vision to ideal, — from dream 
to deed; and although passed are the facts and forms so 
vivid and vital in their day, who shall say passed the 
spirit and power, the living ]3otentiality of good, whose 
course is by unrecorded ways and whose law of mani- 
festation is unsearchable! 

England was not w^anting in bold sea enterprise. 
Almost a century before the discovery of this continent 
she had a brisk trade with Iceland. In a single snow- 
storm in April, 1419, tw^enty-five of her vessels were lost 
on that wild coast. But wdiether the race instinct of 
colonization was taking a rest, or because of the absorb- 
ing interest in the mythical "northwest passage to 
Cathay," she made no effort to follow up the discoveries 
of the Cabots in 1497 by acts evincing intention of per- 
manent possession. 

But it was with express purpose of proceeding to 

6 



actual oeeiipancy tliat France sent out two great ex- 
ploring- expeditions wliicli were not only tlioroiigh-going 
in character bnt pregnant of consequences : tliat of Ver- 
razano in 1524, wliicli gave tlie name New France to tliese 
North Atlantic shores, and that of Jacques Cartier ten 
years later, whose reniarkal)le observations and glowing 
accounts deepened this nominal interest into tlie sense 
and pride of ownership. France now asserted her sole 
right to all the region north of Spanish Florida. 

Portugal, also, laid early claim to the vast, unbounded 
region north of the Newfoundland waters, which she 
named Corterealis after her great discoverer in the year 
1500; the name Labrador preserves a record of her 
passing hand. She commenced an occupancy, too, about 
the Newfoundland shores, building a rendezvous or re- 
cruiting station for her fishermen there which lasted a 
long time. Portuguese names remain here, although in 
disguised form ; Cape Race, from Cavo Raso — Flat Cape ; 
and Bay of Fundy, replacing the name Bale Francoise 
given by de Monts. On the oldest Portuguese and Span- 
isli maps this is Rio Fundo, or Hondo — Deep River. 

England kept up some intercourse with tliese north- 
eastern coasts in the way of fishing interests, but in this 
she was far exceeded by others. In 1578 tlie fishing fleet 
of England here numbered fifty; that of Portugal and 
Spain twice that numl)er ; that of France three times as 
many. And think of wdiat strong, indomitable blood 
those early Frenchmen were : Norman, Breton, Biscayan. 
Strains of these inextinguishable essences remain in 
those who follow the old vocation off those outlying, 
storm-swept shores, and abiding tokens in the name and 
character of Cape Breton, and in the stubborn contest 
over treaty rights reserved in the islands of Miquelon. 

The inaction of England was practically al)andonment 
of claim. The middle of the sixteenth century saw the 
new world in theory, in legal presumption and probable 
fate, apportioned between France, Portugal and Spain. 

7 



To lis, familiar with the liistory of modiTii movement in 
the world's masteries, it seems strange that the Norman 
element in English blood, so prone to see an opportunity, 
and some might say so prompt to seize an advantage, did 
not follow np England's claimed priority of discovery by 
earliest occni)ancy of the new Atlantic shores. But know- 
ing also as we do, the audacity of the mingled strains in 
the old French blood, we do not wonder that it was this 
which took the forefront and held on till its last foothold 
was drowned in its last red tide. 

Occupancy by settlement was slow. A charter was 
granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert by Queen Elizabeth in 
1578, but it was not until 1583 that he began a settlement 
in Newfoundland at what he called St. John's. But that 
high spirit who declared, "We are as near heaven by sea 
as land!" passed out through a storm of elements off 
those headlands, precarious indeed, and with him the soul 
went out of his enterprise, and the claim of England 
through this occupancy did not for a long time emerge. 

Sir Walter Raleigh's vigorous etforts in Virginia in 
1584 also came to nought. And so at the close of the 
16tli century there was not a Euroi3ean settlement north 
of Florida on the western Atlantic shores. 

But the human ferment iwas going on, and the time 
appointed drawing near. The fierce persecution of the 
Huguenots was tearing asunder social bonds in France. 
The quarrel over the succession of King Henry of 
Navarre had its spring in this bitterness, and the chang- 
ing play of parties permitted no one to be safe. Earnest 
minds were moved to seek peaceful homes in the wilder- 
ness of the New World, where they might find at least 
freedom of thought and action, and possibly scope for 
their best energies. Thus Admiral Coligny sought to 
plant Huguenot colonies in both South and North 
America, which soon succumbed to Portugal or Spain. 
But inward pressure prompted outward movement and 
bitterly manifest as were the dilTerences in the old home, 

8 



these did not prevent association in a common pnrpose 
for so liigii an end. lender Henry IV a notable company 
was formed, tlie leading spirit of which was Aylmar de 
Chastes, a gentleman of high standing and governor of 
Dieppe, to carry forward colonization on these shores 
"in the name of God and the King." 

At this jnnctnre comes upon the scene one of the most 
remarkable characters of onr New World history — Sam- 
uel, Sieur de Champlain. Born on the shore of Biscay 
in a little seaport where departing and returning ships 
bringing stories of wide and wild adventure quickened 
into life that vague consciousness of power which stirs 
in all brave spirits ; by nature bold, chivalrous, romantic ; 
by early experience soldier, sailor, observer and relater ; 
tireless in labor, patient of suffering, large of vision and 
generous of purpose, genial of spirit and firm of soul, he 
may well be regarded as providentially prepared to be 
called to the solution of great problems of enterprise. 
We do not wonder that he had already received special 
marks of honor from the king. He and de Chastes seem 
to have come together by mutual attraction. To him the 
king gave special charge to observe carefully and report 
all he should see. The practical charge of the expedition 
was entrusted to Du Pont Grave, of St. Malo in Bretagne, 
who had already made a voyage to this region. 

This expedition explored the St. Lawrence, tarrying 
some time at Tadoussac, at the mouth of the mysterious 
Saguenay, and finally ascending to the site of Montreal. 
Of this exploration there were wonderful things to tell in 
France; and told by Champlain roused an interest such 
as nothing had done before. He came back with high 
hopes, but found that his generous patron had passed 
away, and with him the su})i)orting hand, if not the ani- 
mating s|)irit, of the entei-])ris('. 

But he found also that tlie king had given a new charter 
to a gentleman of equally high character, an officer of 
the king's household, Pierre de jMonts, Seigneur of the 

9 



C'oiiiitiiiiic oi' (Juast in Santoiigc, a rei»ioii of which La 
Koclu'lic was the natural center and strongly Huguenot 
in its pr()('li\ities, as was the family of de Monts. This 
charter was given November 8, 1G03. It conveyed to de 
Monts in ('lal)orate terms trading and seignorial rights 
over the New AVorld territory between the fortieth and 
forty-sixth ]tarallels of latitude — those of Philadelphia 
and Montreal today — this territory being designated 
Lacadie, or Acadia. With this came the appointment of 
Lieutenant-general, and by inference Vice-admiral, of 
this vast and vaguely known domain of Acadia. 

With reciprocal personal respect and the sympathy of 
like purpose, these two men joined hands and hearts in 
the enterprise now more definitely thought out and prac- 
tically organized than any before. De Monts had been the 
companion of Chauvin in a former voyage to these north- 
eastern shores, and had the confidence of experience. 
Champlain again received appointment as special geo- 
gra]^her and reporter for the king. They enlisted also 
the interest and companionship of Jean de Poutrincourt, 
Baron of Saint Just in Bretagne, a man of ample means 
and large of mind and heart, pronounced by King Henry 
to be "one of the most honorable and valiant men of 
the Kingdom." 

Thus was ordained and organized that famous adven- 
ture of Acadia, fraught Avith human hopes as high and 
fancies as wide as its sequel was to be bright with char- 
acters of courage and devotion and stormy with vicissi- 
tude and tragedy. 

NoTK i!Y Editor: — This and tlip Tollowing extracts from General 
CJiamberlain's address are puhlished for their admirable and eloquent 
appreciation of the deeper meaning and significance of de Monts' adven- 
ture. The story of the enterprise itself tvill he published later in this 
series, in a condensation from Champlain's account. Geok(;k B. Dokk. 



So passed to dust and ruin this little beginning on the 
Island of the Cross. So passed into broken lights the 

10 



glory of do Moiits' dawn'mg droam. Contomplating this 
ruin and tliis baffled purpose, must we speak of failure? 
If so, for de Monts personally the case is not singular. 
All the first leaders had sad experiences. Gilbert, 
Raleigh, Gorges, de Monts, Poutrincourt, Chaniplain even, 
and we might also say Columbus himself — jealousy, 
enmity, imprisonment, disgrace barred their sunset sky. 
But we judge men more by the ideas they quicken into 
action than by the immediate material results they live 
to see. 

All the developments of succeeding history in this re- 
gion must be regarded as in some true sense the unfolding 
of de Monts' purjDose, not under his guidance indeed 
but under the momentum of the impulse he originated, and 
although we cannot see all the interaction of the com- 
posite forces which determine life and history, we must 
think back to de Monts, when we consider the long, sharp 
struggle for possession of these Acadian shores and the 
tenacious hold pn them which France maintained for 
more than a century, and is not wholly yet unfelt. 

One singular dignity this St. Croix settlement of de 
Monts has come to hold. After long lost identity and 
earnest searching, these ruins were discovered and ad- 
mitted to be the proper mark for the boundary line be- 
tween two great nations, England and the United States 
of America. Such value had this broken enterprise in 
the minds of men and council of nations. Without the 
identifying of this spot the language of treaties was in 
vain, and the bounds of nationalities in confusion. 

But this little relic is not the measure of the man. The 
narrow compass of this island does not bound his thought, 
nor the dim fragments of his doing that have taken 
earthly form around us compose his record. The meas- 
ure of him is his ]nu'pose and ideal. 

The blood and l)raiu of France that once led the civi- 
lization of Europe has not ]»erislied from the earth. It 
Jias entered into the on-going of human welfare, and the 

11 



vision, tlie prayer, the hope, that went so high and far, 
may find answer in visible forms of power even beyond 
the early dream. 

Consequences are not in one line alone, but in many 
lines. "When a living thought is projected into the ideal, 
we cannot trace its course, nor forsee its end. God's 
ways are on mighty orbits, and their real tending is often 
lost to human sight; but the "times appointed" will 
arrive, and tlie end crown the work. One thing we may be 
sure of: all these vicissitudes of life, all these toils and 
struggles, these seeming defeats as well as seeming vic- 
tories, are overruled for some final good for man — and 
for every man who has borne himself worthily in them. 

So we greet in spirit today him who three centuries 
ago saw in visions of his soul what for man could be 
wrought on these treasured shores. The work is going 
on — but by other hands ; the dream is coming true — but 
to other eyes. The thought is his; and the fulfilment, 
though different, is of his beginning. 



As a Contemporary Saw It 

Marc Lescarbot, who came out in May, 1606, to visit 
de Monts' settlement with Jean de Biencourt, Seigneur 
de Poutrincourt, and who afterward wrote the History 
of New France, the best account next to Champlain's we 
have of de Monts' undertaking and of Acadia at that 
time, begins his History: "I have to tell in this book 
of the most courageous undertaking, and the least aided 
and assisted, that we of France have made to occupy 
the new lands beyond the Ocean. The Sieur de Monts, 
called in his own name Pierre du Gua, a man of noble 
family in Saintonge, is its chief subject. He, having a 
heart moved to high enterprise, and seeing France in 
repose through the peace happily concluded at Vervins, 
proposed to the King. . . ." 

12 



F^7 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

li'llllll'll''l'llliin'l'll!l''llli'|!i 



019 315 315 A 



Hollmger 

pH S3 

Mm Run F03.2193 



